E 458 

SPEECH ' .B15 

1 Copy 1 

OF / 



HON. JOSEPH BAILY, ' 



OF PENNSYLVANIA, 

\ 

ON THE BlLl FOR THE ISSUING OF ADDITIONAL TKEASURY NOTES 



DELIVERED ^ 



IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 



y ' 
/ ^ 



June 18, 1862. 







WASHINGTON, D. C. 

SCAMMELL & CO. , PRINTERS, CORNER OF SECOND STREET AND INDIANA AVENUE 

1862. 



E-45 2 



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SPEECH. 



The House being in Committee of the Whole on the state of the 
Union — 

Mr. BAILY said : 

Mr. Chairman : I happen to be one of those ohl enough to have 
voted fi'^- that great and good man, Andrew Jackson. About the period 
of his second election, that old hero grappled the heresy of nullification 
by the throat. When he sent Commodore Elliott down to Charleston, 
and laid a few of our old-fashioned frigates broad-side to that arrogant 
city, and filled the forts in the harbor full of soldiers, there was no 
grumbling then ; everything the old man did to crush that little rebel- 
lion was approved by the Democratic party of that day. I remember 
well, when the report came north — news did not travel as fast at 
that time as it does now — that he had expressed a determination to 
hang Calhoun as high as Haman, but one voice was heard, and that 
was to applaud his declaration. A compromise with treason was un- 
wisely but honestly made at that time. The old hero was prevented 
from crushing that foolish outbreak by force, as he would have done ; 
and the nation is now reaping the bitter fruits of that blunder. If 
Jackson had been let alone in his great purpose of maintaining the su- 
premacy of the Constitution and laws by the strong arm of power, and 
punished a few of the bad men engaged in that movement, it is hardly 
likely we should now be called upon to make such tremendous efforts 
to quell rebellion. 

The bold, bad men in the South, who have lately boasted that they 
have been engaged for thirty years in preparing the public mind in that 
region for the present outbreak, would hardly have commenced their 
task of treason at so early a day if Jackson had been let alone. These 
men were permitted to go unpunished, and they have at last involved 



their country in the most cruel and causeless civil war on record. They 
have committed a great crime. They are now in armed rebellion against 
a Government that never did them wrong. They have enjoyed more than 
their share of its patronage — have had a majority of the Presidents and 
Vice Presidents, of Cabinet officers and foreign ministers ; and yet, in the 
face of all these benefits, because, as they hypocritically allege, the Gov- 
ernment would not do what they knew it had no constitutional power to do, 
to suppress abolition societies and presses, they have risen up in armed 
rebellion to destroy it. This is a subterfuge. The abolition of slavery 
had but little influence upon the bold and unscrupulous leaders of this 
rebellion. They made potent use of that element of discord to beguile 
the honest masses of the South into treason, but the leaders knew bet- 
ter. They knew well that Mr. Lincoln would be in a minority in both 
branches of the present Congress, and would be powerless to do them 
harm if he desired. It was a question of power that moved these leaders 
to rebellion, and not the question of abolition. They are natural aristo- 
crats, and perceived with mingled fear and hate the surprising growth 
of the North and West in all the elements of greatness — numbers, 
wealth, and intelligence — and feared these elements would some day be 
used to curtail their influence over the Government and its patronage. 
That was the prominent, leading motive for their treason, and not the 
abolition of slavery. If the latter motive had actuated them, why did 
their self-constituted government ofler to England and France the abo- 
lition of slavery in thirty years, as the price of their acknowledgment 
and alliance to aid in destroying our Government'? 

It will not do to close our eyes to the enormity of this crime or the 
condition of things that fearfully surround us. This is a war of ele- 
mental principles — of aristocracy against democracy ; and its effects, for 
good or evil, will be felt to the utmost bounds of civilization. If the 
former succeeds, the cause of constitutional liberty will be put back a 
thousand years. If the latter triumphs, as it most certainly will, the 
bohl men who are raising their voice against tyranny over the whole 
earth will be inspired with a new vigor in their cflbrts to establish 
equal rights and constitutional freedom for all civilized men. In this 
great emergency, what is the duty of the Government and the people 
Avho are loyal to it ] Arc we merely to look on like servile wretches, 
and permit these traitors to destroy our Government, without an effort 
to save it I Are we reduced to so mean a condition that, after the short 
period of seventy-three years of national existence, four-fifths of the 
American people became so venal and cowardly as to permit the other 
fifth to uvcrtliruw their Govennncnt 'J No, sir. We have plenty of 



6 

good and brave men yet who are ■u'illing to peril their all in defence of 
their country. We may have men among us who try to alarm the 
fears of the people about debt and taxation. 

But these things are of no avail. The great majority of the people 
have resolved, in their heart of hearts, that there is but one way about 
it. This rebellion is to be put down, cost what it may. The people 
well know that if it is permitted to succeed, ruin and desolation will 
follow. The protection the laws afford to life and property will be 
swept away with the destruction of the Government. The people know 
this well, and hence the patriotic uprising of six hundred and fifty thou- 
sand armed men to crush out this foul blot on the fair fame of our country. 
Debt and taxation were not a consideration with the people when they 
sent these brave men forth to battle for their country. They knew 
well that debt and taxation Avould be the result of the herculean efforts 
they were making to save this Government, and all true men will bear 
these burdens cheerfull3^ 

There is no use now in talking about the causes that may have pro- 
duced this rebellion — about abolition and the conduct of enthusiasts. 
We have the terrible and tangible fact staring us in the face, that a 
portion of the people of the United States have arrayed themselves in 
armed rebellion against their country. Some of the States, in viola- 
tion of the Constitution, have entered into alliances with each other to 
destroy the Govrnment; have raised armies and navies; seized the 
property of the Government, and commenced this unholy purpose while 
still enjoying its patronage. After committing these monstrous and 
treasonable outrages, the self-constituted government into which these 
traitorous States had entered audaciously declares that all it wants is 
to be let alone. Very likely. The perpetrator of crime always desires 
that. The wishts of these bad men cannot be gratified. The Govern- 
ment of the United States is obliged to see that the laws be faithfully 
executed, and cannot consent that rebels against its authority anywhere 
shall be let alone. They are to be punished ; and to do this armed 
men are required. 

■ The men who arm and go forth to fight for their country must be 
maintained and paid for their time, and to do this Congress must pro- 
vide the Executive with the means. Hence the necessity of this bill. 
I shall vote for it with pleasure, because it provides the necessary 
means and is the least burdensome to the people, because it is in the 
nature of a loan without interest. Talk about cost when the ex- 
istence of such a government as this is at stake ! The trustee of the 
rights of man throughout the world, we will, as we ought, incur the 



6 

curses of mankind if we stop short, for fear of expense, in our efforts 
to maintain its supremacy. What signify a thousand millions or five 
thousand millions conpared with the existence of a nation that has pro- 
duced such startling results in the history of the world in the short 
space of three quarters of a century 1 Why, sir, it has conquered a 
wilderness overspreading a continent, and peopled it. It has produced 
the raw material witli which the people of the earth have clothed them- 
selves. In a very short time it will produce food sufficient to sustain 
the wants of all mankind. Its manufactures are carried in its own 
ships to every port on the earth. It has tamed the lightning and made 
it the means of transmitting thought. It has made the terrific power 
of heated vapor submissive to its will and compelled it to perform labor 
equal to the efforts of millions of men. Its educational institutions 
excel in number and usefulness those of all other nations, and its gal- 
lant soldiers and sailors have never met a foe able to conquer them. 

These are a few of the great results produced by a great people un- 
der the benign influence of this greatest and best form of government 
in a period much short of a century. Will a people who have accom- 
plished these great purposes in so short a time be alarmed at a debt of 
$1,000,000,000 incurred in the preservation of their Government? I 
think not, when the}' ascertain the share each one Avill be liable to pay. 
In eight years more we shall have a population of forty millions and over. 
Divide $1,000,000,000 by this number, and we have the trifling sum of 
twenty-five dollars, for which each one of the people will be liable, the 
interest on which, per year, is $1 50. Double this amount of indebt- 
edness, and you have the sum of fifty dollars as the liability of each 
one, subject to an annual interest of three dollars — not very alarming 
figures to a great and free people. The ordinary revenue has most 
generally been sufficient to defray the ordinary expenditures of the Gov- 
ernment heretofore, and we may confidently expect that to be the case 
hereafter, at least as soon as we have peace, and trade and business 
have resumed their usual channels. 

The people have a right, and certainly will exercise it, to hold the 
agents of the Government to a faithful performance of duty. The man" 
who will, in this great emergency, impose upon his Government bj^ a 
fraudulent compliance with the terms of his contract, or the public offi- 
cer who abuses his trust, is more hateful than a rebel, and ought to be 
more severely dealt with. The drum-head court-martial is the only 
remedy for that class of men. A little exercise of that kind of remedy 
"would have a most salutary effect at this time. Plunderers are to be 
found among all people. They arc bold and insinuating, and when 



money is to be expended are the first to offer their services, hut the last 
when fighting is to he done. Cowardice and theft are twin brothers, 
and always in company — always at work in dark and dirty places, ready 
to cheat an individual or a nation. 

The great and only purpose of the Government, in my judgment, 
should be to maintain and defend the Constitution as it is, and to re- 
store the Union as it was prior to the rebellion. The framers of that 
sacred instrument, the Constitution, certainly clothed this Government 
with powers of sovereignty ample and sufficient to defend it against all 
foes, either internal or external. The resort to powers of doubtful 
character, or no; warranted by the Constitution, is dangerous, and will 
be injuriously felt hereafter when resorted to as a precedent. The war 
power, so much talked about in this Hall, is but the power of the des- 
pot at best, and should be resorted to only as limited and qualified by 
the provisions of the Constitution. 

The folly of confiscation of property by any other than a judicial pro- 
cess, and for a longer period than the life of the offender, will probably 
be fully demonstrated when you offer it for sale. Purchasers will look 
at the Constitution, and exercise their own judgment as to the character 
of the title you propose to vest. But little will be realized from this 
project, or I have not studied well the cautious character of our people. 
"Why stretch the powers of the Constitution to effect emancipation when 
the work you propose to do is being better done by the rebels them- 
selves? Have a little patience, gentlemen, and the object you have 
in view will be accomplished without violating the provisions of that in- 
strument. The rebels themselves have numbered the days of slavery. 
Their offer to abolish it in thirty years will destroy all respect for the 
institution among its best friends. The moral restraint that has here- 
tofore kept the slave in submission has been in a measure removed. 
Rebellion has schooled him to notions of freedom. The master whose 
interest it was to train him to ideas of submission has, by his example, 
inspired him with vague ideas of liberty ; and when he returns to his 
plantation, instead of respect and submission to his authority, he will 
find a spirit of insubordination not to be controlled by the old power of 
moral influence. The master will become tired of an institution not 
only costly but dangerous, and he will resort to free labor for safety. 
Let these questions of doubtful utility alone, and cling to the one straight- 
forward and determined idea of crushing this accursed rebellion by the 
recognised powers ot tbe Constitution. A resort to powers beyond the 
provisions of that instrument is an admission of the weakness of the 
Government- 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



8 011 933 360 fl 

I conscientiously believe it to be the duty of every Democrat to SBup-'*^ * 
port the President in the exercise of every constitutional power to sup- 
press this unjustifiable rebellion, and with as much cordiality and dis- 
interestedness as we rendered to Andrew Jackson in his efforts to destroy 
nullification. We would not be consistent if we pursued any other 
course. The Democratic party has ever claimed strict fidelity to the 
Constitution as one of the great landmarks in its organization. Armed 
rebellion is not in accordance with the provisions of that instrument, 
but subversive of them. The only safety is in strict obedience to it 
and the laws ; any other course leads to anarchy. Let us cling to it 
as the great hope of mankind, and interpose the potency of our strong 
arms against every unlawful efibrt to impair its sacred provisions. A 
portion of our people have arrayed themselves in arms against the au- 
thority of the Government, and for the purpose of destroying the Con- 
stitution. It is our duty to assist in rescuing it from the assaults of 
these bad men ; and if, in doing so, it has become necessary to baptize 
our fair fields in the blood of the true and the false alike, so be it. The 
crime and the fault shall not be ours. The responsibility be with those 
who imposed this dreadful necessity upon the Government. Actuated by 
this sentiment, near four hundred thousand Democrats have armed and 
marched forth to defend their country, and we will be recreant to our 
principles if we do not assist in providing the necessary'' means for their 
support and comfort. My course is fixed. Come what may, I wiH 
stand by my country and its brave defenders in this dread hour of peril. 



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